Hello all,
Since I got out of the Air Force I have yet to find a job that I can call a career. I am looking to find a new career, something I find interesting and challenging. I have worked in recruitment, higher education, and consulting work but nothing has been able to keep me engaged long term. I was an intelligence analyst for 4 years active and going on 3 years reserve and was thinking of looking into government contracting in the field.
I do not know much about this field but I am trying to see if it is worth going contract work (ex. CACI) or keep looking for intelligence work in the civilian, state, or federal level. Any advice will be helpful.
Thank You,
CJ Kane
Answers
CJ,
I echo Chuck's comments above...biggest question is do you currently have now a TS/SCI clearance this is current? I am a DoD Contractor with Booz Allen supporting SOCCENT and I can tell you coming into the federal contracting realm without a current TS/SCI clearance is indeed a tough hurdle to cross, but not impossible. When it comes to contracting, it is all about the client...if your client is great, the work is great and rewarding. On the other hand, if you client is difficult, the work and experience can be difficult. I am lucky in that SOCCENT is a phenomenal client to support.
Hope you find this information useful....God Speed!!
As an ACP AdvisorNet staff member, I assist in monitoring and building the ACP AdvisorNet community.
CJ,
Thank you for reaching out to ACP and we are happy to receive your support! Another feature of ACP AdvisorNet is that you can directly message ACP's Mentors/Veterans by company, industry, amount of experience, and location - at our "Community" tab. This could potentially assist you in your future career planning! Example companies to start this search could be viewed though this top government contractors list: https://www.cnbc.com/2011/04/08/The-10-Biggest-U.S.-Government-Contractors.html?slide=3.
As well, these articles can also, provide you with additional information on the field's career path trajectories/skills needed: https://www.villanovau.com/resources/contract-management/contract-administrator-job-description/#.W2r4p9hKhTZ and https://www.villanovau.com/resources/contract-management/federal-contract-manager-pt1/#.W2r4z9hKhTY.
Thank you for your time and have a great day!
Best,
Kate
CJ,
As you are probably aware, the USG employs a plethora of support contractors. The support contractors that I have dealt with (CACI, Booz Allen, Tecolote, to name a few) employ high caliber talent to work a broad portfolio of projects/project types (keeping it fresh). They generally are geographically diverse, so opportunities abound depending of geographical preferences and/or limitations. Certainly, the Beltway is always a fertile hunting ground. Too, there is also a dearth of cleared individuals with which many of these projects require.
Another front might be federally funded research and development centers (FFRDC) such as the Aerospace Corporation, Jet Propulsion Laboratories, etc. (ref: https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/ffrdclist/ ) who offer similarly challenging careers.
I hope you find this information useful. Please let me know if I can provide any further information.
Your Answer
Please log in to answer this question.